If you 'don't have time to meditate'...It's you that needs it most!
It is not long from starting Meditation that one will soon begin to reap the many benefits. Meditation is an ancient practice of finding calmness, balance and stillness. It anchors one to the present moment in order to live a more aligned life. It is a way of observing your thoughts and not reacting to them in negative or positive ways. They are as they are!
Believe us when we say - Starting is the hardest part. Once you get a feel for that stillness, you will see numerous health benefits. Some of those include:
Pain: Pain in the body can ease up when you identify pain as just being. A good practice is to just observe aches or itches in the body without reacting to them. By doing so, the pains are as they are and pain can be relieved.
Mental health - One of the initial benefits you will notice is the benefit to your mental health. You no longer identify with all thoughts as YOU. Mindfulness can teach us strategies to live fully in the present, free from worries and anxiety.
Longevity - Some studies have now shown that meditation has the chance to increase telomerase. These are the caps on our DNA that dictate length of life (1).
While many will say they don’t have time, it is usually those that might need it the most. We have included some ways to get you started in meditation and mindfulness.
Download a mindfulness/meditation app – HeadSpace or SmillingMind. These apps will guide you from the very start of your meditation journey and can be altered depending on the amount of time in your life.
Find a nice quiet space in your house, buy some incense and find a meditation soundtrack you like on Spotify. Try to focus on the sound, the smell, how you feel - without reacting to them and refining in the moment. Follow your breathe, imaging there in a piece of string on the tip of your nose moving back and forth.
If you’re a member of a large fitness centre, many have mediation classes once or twice a week. There are also many paid and free meditation classes around Geelong that can be found via the Meetup app.
For training your brain on positivity create a ‘gratitude journal’ where you write something you’re grateful for each day. Alternatively get your friends and family involved by each saying their gratitude at dinner each night.
So what are you waiting for? Meditation isn't just about the 'oms', it's about connecting back to who you are, not letting your thoughts crowd out your everyday life and bringing some calm back.
Schutte, N. S., & Malouff, J. M. (2014). A meta-analytic review of the effects of mindfulness meditation on telomerase activity. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 42, 45-48.
Jade has a Bachelor of Health Science in Naturopathy and practices on Tuesday and Wednesdays from The Sana Co. She has a special interest in Children's Health & Womens Health
